Newborn children and infants require special and specific care to avoid injury when handled for feeding or even when left to rest. As infant neck muscles are just developing, it is critical that the baby's head be supported when the baby is leaned backward as it might be for feeding. When infants are placed in cribs to sleep, it is important that they are prevented from turning themselves face down where they could smother against the surface of the crib. For this reason, a means to prevent the infant from using his or her arms while sleeping is necessary. To address this problem, various techniques and devices have been developed to swaddle the infant and cause it to sleep safely on his or her back. It is also important that the surface provided for the baby to sleep upon be so shaped as to avoid the baby's head being inclined too far forward which could close off the airway of the baby. As the baby grows, it is often desirable to have a portable, ready-made bed or sleeping bag for the baby to use when away from home. Various solutions to these problems have been proposed.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,760, issued to Bartley et al. is directed to a nursing pillow and methods. This device, a support pillow, includes a horseshoe shaped pillow body disposed around a well region. A support member is fixed in a portion of the well and is provided to support some or all of an object resting on the pillow. Construction of the pillow can vary with the top and bottom pieces being cut into U-shaped pieces and sewn together or two continuous pieces and sewn together with a seam forming the interior section of the U-shape providing structure for a continuous transition from the pillow sections to the support member. Pockets may be included on the outer periphery of the pillow.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,673,354, issued to Fader is directed to a baby sleeping pouch method and apparatus. This device is a pouch. A baby may be placed on a wedge pillow and positioned with in the pouch. Additionally, it is suggested that the baby may be swaddled in a blanket prior to insertion into the pouch.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,393,025, issued to Crispino et al. illustrates a bed covering system. This system includes a lower sheet and an upper sheet. At least one expandable flap joins the edges of the lower and upper sheets. A pocket may be supplied on the lower sheet near the pillow or pillow encasement.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,165, issued to Morgillo discloses an infant safety device. This safety device includes a U-shaped pillow support portion and a harness portion. A pillow case may be provided to cover the U-shaped pillow. In this embodiment, the harness portion is fixed to the pillow case.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,516,638, issued to Kummerfeld et al. is directed to a feeding pillow with a removable surface. The feeding pillow is generally U-Shaped or C-Shaped. The pillow has a pocket. A support member is positioned in the pocket and may be removed through an opening.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a convenient baby support for breast feeding and other purposes in which the baby's head must be supported. It is another objective to provide a sleeping surface that prevents excessive forward inclination of the baby's head when sleeping on its back. It is a further objective to provide a device for constraining a baby's arms while resting or sleeping. It is a still further objective of the invention to provide a compact infant sleeping bag for use when traveling. It is yet a further objective to provide a baby handling device that can be easily maintained in a sanitary condition. Finally, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a baby handling device that is inexpensive, attractive, light weight and easily manufactured.
While some of the objectives of the present invention are disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.